BILL NUMBER: AB 2387	CHAPTERED  09/19/00

	CHAPTER   516
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 19, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 17, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 31, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 29, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 25, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 7, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 21, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 12, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 29, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Keeley
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Aanestad, Dickerson, Frusetta,
Kuehl, Machado, Margett, and Strom-Martin)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2000

   An act to add Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 36970) to
Division 27 of the Public Resources Code, relating to ocean
resources.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2387, Keeley.  California Ocean Resources Stewardship Act of
2000.
   Existing law provides for the protection and preservation of the
California coast.
   This bill would enact the California Ocean Resources Stewardship
Act of 2000.  The bill would authorize the Secretary of the Resources
Agency to enter into an agreement with an existing nonprofit
corporation to establish a trust to be known as the California Ocean
Trust to seek and provide funding for ocean resource science projects
and to encourage coordinated, multiagency, multiinstitution
approaches to ocean resource science.  The bill would also require
the Secretary of the Resources Agency to report on the steps taken to
ensure the coordination of ocean resource management science.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 36970) is added to
Division 27 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 8.  THE CALIFORNIA OCEAN RESOURCES STEWARDSHIP ACT OF
2000
      Article 1.  General Provisions

   36970.  This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the
California Ocean Resources Stewardship Act of 2000 (CORSA).
   36971.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) The Pacific Ocean and its rich and varied resources provide
great environmental, economic, aesthetic, recreational, educational,
and scientific benefits to the people of California and the nation.
The state's ocean resources contribute greatly to the economy and the
quality of life of its residents, and California's growing
population increasingly lives, works, and recreates on or near the
coast.  Ocean and coast-dependent industries contributed over $17
billion to the state's economy and supported over 500,000 jobs in
1999, and ocean and coastal tourism and recreational activities,
which are increasing rapidly in popularity and economic value,
contributed nearly $10 billion to the state's economy.  Port activity
and ship building also contributed an additional $6 billion, and
recreational and commercial fishing and marine aquaculture added
nearly $1 billion to the state's economy.  In addition, activities of
the United States Department of the Navy that depend on continued
access to California's coastal resources add a direct annual economic
contribution of more than $19 billion.
   (b) Much of the quality of life and economic vibrancy supported by
the state's ocean resources depends on successful management of
those resources, and successful management depends on an adequate
understanding of the natural, ecological, oceanographic, and coastal
processes and their interactions with varied human activities.
   (c) The state is working to maintain and increase the benefits of
its ocean resources to the public; a goal that increases the need for
sound management and greater practical understanding of the state's
ocean and coastal resources.
   (d) Although California is making progress in ocean management
efforts, unsolved existing challenges also point to the need for
greater improvements in management and the basic information needed
for sound management.  Examples of existing challenges include
depressed populations of many species that are the targets of state
and federally managed fisheries, pollution that results in beach and
fishery closures, dredging and dredge spoils disposal necessary to
keep the state's ports competitive, and coastal erosion that
threatens structures and reduces the quality of beaches.
   (e) State and federal agencies with ocean and coastal resource
management responsibility often lack basic information on which to
base decisions, and many management issues are broader than the
mandates of individual agencies, and existing means for coordinating
agency efforts need to be improved.  The result can be ad hoc,
short-term management decisions based on inadequate information.
   (f) California has a wealth of outstanding public and private
marine science institutions that have increased their commitments to
excellence in applied ocean resource science.  Approximately one
hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in current, recent, or planned
marine science projects funded by the federal government,
foundations, the University of California and California State
University systems, and private institutions could be of great
benefit to the state's coastal and ocean resource management
agencies.
   (g) The obstacles to collaborative efforts involving those
institutions and agencies include all of the following:
   (1) Inadequate coordination among marine science institutions.
   (2) Inadequate guidance from management agencies about information
needs for management.
   (3) Important gaps in information, duplication of effort, missed
opportunities, and unusable information due to the lack of
standardized and coordinated information management techniques.  The
circumstances and needs identified in the findings in this section
are among those recognized in this chapter and in the 1997 report
prepared by the Resources Agency entitled "California's Ocean
Resources:  An Agenda for the Future."  This chapter is intended to
address some of the basic objectives of that report.
   36972.  The Legislature further finds that it is the policy of the
state to do all of the following:
   (a) Ensure adequate coordination of ocean resources management
science among state, regional, and federal agencies and marine
science institutions.
   (b) Ensure the most efficient and effective use of state resources
devoted to ocean resource management science and encourage the
contribution of federal and nongovernmental resources.
   (c) Advance applied ocean science, graduate-level education, and
technology development to meet current and future California ocean
resource management needs.
   36973.  (a) No authority is established by this chapter, nor shall
any of its purposes or provisions be used by any public or private
agency or person, to delay or deny any existing or future project or
activity.
   (b) No authority is established by this chapter to supersede
current state agency statutory authority.

      Article 2.  Definitions

   36979.  For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall
have the following meanings:
   (a) "Ocean resources" means all living and nonliving resources
found in the Pacific Ocean and its contiguous saline or brackish bays
and estuaries.
   (b) "Trust" means the California Ocean Trust authorized by Section
36990.
   (c) "Trustees" means the trustees of the trust.

      Article 3.  Ocean Science Coordination

   36980.  The Secretary of the Resources Agency shall report to the
Legislature on or before September 1, 2002, on the steps taken to
ensure adequate coordination of ocean resource management science
among state, regional, and federal agencies and marine science
institutions.  The purposes of this coordination shall be to provide
adequate information to marine science institutions about the
information needs of agencies and to maximize the usefulness of
ongoing and proposed ocean science projects to ocean resource
management agencies.

      Article 4.  California Ocean Trust

   36990.  (a) The Secretary of the Resources Agency may enter into
an agreement with an existing nonprofit corporation with broad
experience as the trustee of public funds, court-ordered mitigation
funds, or other funds used to assist public agencies in carrying out
their responsibilities to establish a nongovernmental trust, to be
known as the California Ocean Trust.
   (b) The purposes of the trust shall be all of the following:
   (1) To seek funds for California ocean resource science projects,
emphasizing the development of new funding sources.
   (2) To fund California ocean resource science projects that help
fulfill the missions of the state's ocean resource management
agencies.
   (3) To encourage coordinated, multiagency, multiinstitution
approaches to ocean resource science.
   (4) To encourage graduate education programs in
management-oriented ocean resource science in public and private
universities and colleges in California.
   (5) To encourage new technologies that reduce the cost, increase
the amount, or improve the quality of ocean resource management
information.
   (6) To promote more effective coordination of California ocean
resource science useful to management agencies.
   36991.  The trust shall be subject to the Nonprofit Public Benefit
Corporation Law, Part 2 (commencing with Section 5110) of Division 2
of Title 1 of the Corporations Code.  To the extent of any conflict
between this chapter and the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation
Law, this division shall prevail.
   36992.  The trust shall have 10 trustees, who shall be appointed
as follows:
   (a) The Secretary of the Resources Agency shall appoint the
following trustees, who shall serve at the pleasure of the secretary:

   (1) One trustee who shall represent the Resources Agency and the
departments and commissions within the Resources Agency with ocean
resource management responsibilities and who may be an employee of
the state.
   (2) Three trustees from a list of candidates submitted jointly by
the President of the University of California and the Chancellor of
the California State University, who shall be chosen for their broad
knowledge of ocean resource management and science.  At least one of
the three trustees shall not be an employee or on the faculty of the
University of California or California State University.
   (3) Two trustees who shall be representatives of the public
selected primarily for their experience as trustees or directors of
for-profit or nonprofit corporations.
   (4) Two trustees from nominees submitted by coast and ocean
interest groups including, but not limited to, interest groups
representing sport fishing, commercial fishing, coast and ocean
recreation and tourism, marine conservation, and ocean-dependent
industries.  In making the appointments pursuant to this paragraph,
the factors to be considered shall include the nominees'
acceptability to a range of coast and ocean interests, and their
experience as trustees or directors of for profit or nonprofit
corporations.
   (b) The Secretary for Environmental Protection shall appoint one
trustee, who shall serve at the pleasure of the secretary, and who
shall have broad knowledge of water quality concerns as they relate
to ocean resource management.
   (c) The Director of Finance shall appoint one trustee, who shall
serve at the pleasure of the director.
   (d) To the extent feasible, the trustees appointed to the trust
pursuant to subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) shall balance, and reflect
the breadth of, public interests concerned with ocean resources.
   36993.  (a) Any person who might reasonably be expected at some
time to derive a direct financial benefit from the activities of the
trust shall be ineligible to serve as a trustee.
   (b) Subject to the approval of the Secretary for Resources, the
trustees shall adopt definitions and rules for the trust with respect
to indirect conflicts of interest.
   (c) All trustees shall serve without compensation.  However,
trustees may be reimbursed by the trust for reasonable expenses.
   36994.  (a) The trust shall do all of the following:
   (1) Expend funds only for the purposes of the trust enumerated in
Section 36990 and as further restricted by the sources of the trust's
funding.
   (2) Make written findings for funds committed for projects,
indicating how the projects further the purposes of the trust
enumerated in Section 36990.
   (3) Require the recipient of funds to keep records necessary to
disclose whether the funds were used for the purposes specified by
the trust.
   (4) Invest and manage the funds of the trust in accordance with
the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law (Part 2 (commencing with
Section 5110) of Division 2 of Title 1 of the Corporations Code).
   (5) The trust shall report in writing annually to the Legislature
and to the Chair of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture.
  The annual report shall include the most recent financial audit of
the trust and the written findings required pursuant to paragraph
(2).  The activities of the trust for any financial year may be
audited by the Bureau of State Audits.
   (b) The trustees shall ensure that the trust, individual trustees
acting on behalf of the trust and employees or agents of the trust do
not engage in lobbying or contribute to, or otherwise support, any
political party, candidate, or ballot issue.
   (c) This chapter does not expand the authority of the trust to
contract for professional services beyond the authority to contract
for those services in Section 19130 of the Government Code.
   36995.  (a) The trust may seek the assistance of advisers, form
advisory committees, or otherwise consult with knowledgeable
individuals in regard to the business of the trust.
   (b) Advisers shall serve without compensation.  However, advisers
may be reimbursed by the trust for reasonable expenses.
